Where Islam spreads, freedom dies

Intelligence agencies have a term which they use when they have been caught doing something they shouldn't have, and when complete denial is no longer feasible: limited hang-out. In a limited hang-out, the guilty party will make a partial - very partial - admission of guilt. They will admit the very minimum they can get away with and put it all down to a misunderstanding or miscommunication, a mistake made by low-level operatives without executive approval or perhaps a misjudgement made with the best of intentions.

Labour have clearly decided to conduct a limited hang-out on immigration. Complete denial is no longer feasible. The Neather conspiracy is well-known, despite the best efforts of the left-wing establishment to cover it up or belittle it. Hence the limited hang-out strategy. Its outline is clear: acknowledge we made mistakes on immigration without admitting that we consciously deceived people about it; focus on immigration from Eastern Europe as the source of the problem; and, even then, just say that 'transitional controls' were needed.

Mr Miliband conceded: ‘We got it wrong in a number of respects including underestimating the level of immigration from Poland, which had a big effect on people in Britain.

...Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper admitted: ‘We did get things wrong on immigration. ‘We should have had transitional controls on migration from Eastern Europe.’